Piggybacking on my previous post about coffee cups and hats, I would like to highlight a few gift ideas I have stumbled across that I can’t imagine really anyone would ever need. Forgive me for reiterating my dilemma with the cups and caps, but I like to make a point. So, here they are, 5 things I think you should not buy someone for Christmas:

More coffee cups. Please don’t buy anyone another coffee cup regardless of how funny it may be. Coffee cups in particular seem like coat hangers in the way they mysteriously multiply unnoticed until one day you open the cupboard to get a plate and suddenly realize the whole thing is nothing but coffee cups. This year just buy the coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and skip the mug. The exception here is travel mugs which we seem to lose all the time.

Baseball hats seem to multiply the way the cups do. They accumulate from sports teams and souvenirs. It seems like I often have a bag of them in the basement waiting to be donated.

Almost anything at Bed Bath & Beyond like a $100 towel warmer or a popcorn machine shaped like the Stanley Cup. And even the biggest hockey fan doesn’t really need a $50 NHL Goal Light and Authentic Horn to celebrate every goal their favorite team scores. I have to admit though that I’m on the fence about the $50 Darth Vader Toaster. Tis’ the Star Wars season this year.

The Useless Box Kitwhich is kind of cool in that you have to put some soldering skills to work in order to assemble the 50 piece kit. However, once you’ve completed it and installed the required 2 AA batteries, it just sits on your desk waiting for someone to come along and touch the “on” switch. At that point, a small finger pops out of the top and turns the switch off. That’s it. I’m sure it’s hilarious for a few minutes and then quickly becomes a dust collector that you have to feed batteries.

Clear Legos. I can’t think of a better way to injure your feet than giving your kids some essentially invisible pieces of plastic with sharp edges to scatter around the house. I have enough trouble avoiding the ones you can actually see. Truly the gift that keeps on giving.

I’m keeping this one short and likely won’t get anything else written before Christmas, so if anyone actually reads this, I hope you have a Merry Christmas. Watch for links to my videos of our lights display and don't be shy about subscribing to my newsletter below.

I’ve noticed that there are two things that constantly seem to accumulate at my house (OK, three if you count dirty laundry): coffee cups and baseball caps. I swear I haven’t purchased either of these in a long time and yet, I still have to do an occasional purge of both. It seems like I frequently have a bag with a few hats and a box of coffee cups in the basement waiting to be donated. ​I at least understand where many of the baseball caps come from. With three kids playing softball, baseball, soccer, etc. they acquire a hat per team. The kids wear them for the season and then stuff them in the closet to be forgotten. Often these hats look practically new when the season is over. Usually the kids are OK with getting rid of them after a while but if not, we discuss whether or not they might actually wear it again. I point out to them how many hats they have already and how one or two of them could be donated. The ones that become a problem are the hats that someone gives them and they love. They wear it every day until it until that bright red hat is faded to pink, the edges are tattered, and you’re afraid it might just walk away on its own some night. I’ve taken to hiding those in the garage and convincing them to wear something else, hoping they forget all about them so I can throw them away.

The coffee cups, however, just seem to appear out of nowhere. At my house, I’m the only one who drinks coffee. My wife makes one cup of tea each day in her travel mug and she and the kids have the occasional cup of hot chocolate in the winter. They way I have it worked out, we should only need about 6 - 8 coffee cups at the absolute most. There are 5 of us and I’m fine with a few spares for guests, although we do have a set of China that never gets used so we really shouldn’t need extras for guests. Somehow, we accumulate them though. Recently, I won two large cups in a basket raffle at a coffee tasting event. I really wanted some of the other things in the basket and fundraiser was for a good cause, but I really didn’t need the extra cups. I plan on giving them to a friend.

I don’t know if everyone else has encountered the same problem, but I for one have declared war on the cups and caps taking over the house. First, I should do some laundry though.

I’m trying very hard to think of clutter-free gifts this year and I keep seeing the usual suggestions for a clutter-free Christmas, but let’s face it, kids expect at least a couple of toys for Christmas. I’m also a little tired of suggestions like museum memberships and music lessons. Guess what, some of us already do those things with our kids so it’s pretty hard to suddenly tell them that’s their Christmas present. I’d like to offer up a few of my ideas for gifts that aren’t necessarily all clutter-free, but at least keep it to a minimum.

Amazon Kindle and/or Kindle Unlimited Subscription: I’m not a fan of kids staring at electronics all of the time, but my daughter LOVES to read and seems to constantly have a pile of books in her bedroom that she is apparently reading all at once. One day, we counted about a dozen books with bookmarks in them. With a Kindle she can reduce the number of books sitting around her room by borrowing them digitally from the library or buying the digital version from Amazon. A Kindle Unlimited membership makes it even easier since she can then read many of them for free.

Amazon Prime Membership: If you’re looking for a gift for someone who doesn’t have a Prime membership, this has been both a blessing and a curse for us. We now order plenty of consumables online that we used to require a trip to the store. However, it also makes it very easy to buy extra things we don’t necessarily need just because we happened to see them while shopping online. We do enjoy listening to Prime Music and watching movies on Prime Video. Free shipping and easy returns are a bonus too.

Coffee: This is another one that you may be able to buy locally. I live in a small town but still have two coffee shops, one of which roasts their own beans. One tip though, if you’re buying whole bean coffee, make sure the recipient owns a coffee grinder! I recommend a hand grinder unless there’s a reason they may not be able to use it. If you can’t find something good locally, then I like the idea of at least supporting a good cause. I love buying from Mystic Monk Coffee. This is an order of monks in Wyoming who roast and sell coffee beans, tea, chocolate, and religious gifts to raise money. You can buy directly from their site, or you could go hereand click on the Mystic Monk banner so that when you make a purchase, my local Knights of Columbus council makes a little bit of money through their affiliate program. The prices are the same.

Locally Sourced Food Items: Michigan is known for cherries, but the local grocery store does a great job of promoting Michigan made products and especially locally made products. Aside from the coffee mentioned above, look for locally made jelly, popcorn, cherries, nuts, sodas, and even chips. Stick with consumables and pick a few things to put a basket together.

Nice Bottle of Liquor or Wine: Who doesn’t enjoy a nice glass of Scotch when you’re unwinding at the end of the day? OK, maybe not everyone. But if you know someone like me who does enjoy a glass of whiskey, wine, etc. but doesn’t typically splurge on something really good, then why not spoil them? Some of the best birthday presents I’ve ever received included bottles of bourbon or Scotch that were more expensive than what I would spend on myself. These days, small distilleries and wineries are opening up everywhere and you can probably even find something fairly local. Here in Michigan, for example, we have almost 40 craft distilleries across the state.

The overall theme here, is stick with consumables, locally sourced if possible, and subscription/membership type gifts. Good luck with your gift giving and have a Merry Christmas.​

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